Month: January 2015

FILM PREMIERE

So this week, one chilly night in London town, the film premiere for SELMA took place in a small cinema in Mayfair, off the beaten razzmatazz red carpet arena of Leicester sq.

JASMINE AT THE SELMA MOVIE PREMIERE WITH LEAD MAN BRITISH ACTOR DAVID OYELOWO.

Remarkably, this is the first biography about MLK made for the big screen. The film is about a very specific moment in the city of Selma, Alabama, when black civil rights activist Martin Luther King (MLK) life, had given his “I have a dream” speech and received the Nobel peace prize, but was still frustrated by the lack of genuine progress on civil rights.

Selma shows that although the Civil Rights Act of 1964 legally desegregated the South, discrimination was still rampant in certain areas, making it very difficult for blacks to register to vote. Oprah Winfrey, who was a producer on the film, plays a part of an elderly woman rejected time and again whilst trying to sign up and register. (Oprah did all she could to help this film get made, but annoying she pops up or is focused upon every few minutes, clearly due to who she is, which is distracting). In 1965, the city of Selma, Alabama became the battleground in the fight for justice where the Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches changed history. Despite violent opposition, MLK (played by British born Nigerian actor David Oyelowo) and his followers pressed forward on an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, and their hardship resulted in President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

IRONY

Selma’s UK premiere date was timely and topical. This film is relevant to today’s audiences for a few reasons, and the irony of watching it on January 27th 2015 was not lost on me.

* It was the same day as the 70-year anniversary of Auschwitz. A reminder that suppression of a people is not just a past historical paradigm, like the VHS tape. It still exists. People are being slaughtered in parts of the world, like Nigeria regularly, and the western media seem not to notice.

* It was exactly 50 years ago in 1965, since the USA granted African Americans the right to vote.

* It was exactly 100 days until the UK elections where yet again the non-voters add to the farce. In 2010 15.9 million people didn’t vote. That’s more than every single political party.

* MLK’s comments reverberate eerily today, when police again can kill unarmed black men and face no legal punishment, as shown by the murder of Michael Brown that tore the American town of Ferguson apart, just this past year.

*It was just after Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend in the USA (The memorial holiday that Americans celebrate with extra shopping and skiing). Also, now that we’ve picked up other annual American traditions like Black Friday its only a matter of time until Thanksgiving and MLK weekend is ‘a thing’ here too.
* It’s the same week that actor benedict Cumberbatch apologised, and said he was “devastated to have caused offence”, after using the ‘’coloured’’ word to refer to black actors, on a US TV show ,whilst trying to draw attention to the lack of opportunity for black actors. Selma’s lead man David Oyelowo has defended him stating, “I think it’s ridiculous, when you look at what he was actually saying it’s clear that he’s a huge supporter of black performers. I reached out to him in support and said I think it’s ridiculous, but we’re talking about diversity again and that’s because there isn’t enough of it.”

NARRATIVE

During the film, I kept wondering when MLK, would recite those famous ‘I have a dream’ lyrics. But alas he never does onscreen. I then found out that this was due to the fact that MLK’s bickering children did not give the film permission to quote their father’s speeches, and in the past had charged around £500,000 for his words to be inscribed into a statue on Americas National Mall. Then I was even more impressed with the clever way the film got away with this.

The film also touches very briefly on the differences in relation ship between MLK and Malcolm X, both religious black activists who differed at one point when it came to the use of aggression and peace. Selma shows that MLK is a believer in a peaceful protest-until peaceful doesn’t work and he’s reduced to media headline grabbing antics that led to black Americans version of bloody Sunday.

In Selma, It was at times hard to watch innocent people young and elderly, clubbed to within an inch of their lives or being killed. However these scenes weren’t the focus of the movie and the scenes were not gratuitous.
While the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act had legally desegregated the South, towns like Selma remained very dangerous places to be a black man or woman, with Jim Crow discrimination still in effect, especially with regard to the contentious subject of voter registration. I watched the film and felt exasperated at the fact that it’s still dangerous to be a black man in America and many other parts of the world today.

DRECTOR / LEAD ACTOR

Powerfully directed by former publicist Ava DuVernay, now the first African American woman ever nominated for the Best Director Oscar, Ava managed to make this film on a budget of around £13million, and managed a huge cast with dozens of speaking roles and hundreds of extras. At the premiere she took to the stage before the film began, to plead with the audience to help draw attention to the film ‘’ If we don’t build a mainstream audience for films like this, they won’t be made. Help us push this far and wide!’’

JASMINE WITH SELMA DIRECTOR AVA DUVERNAY.

Born in Oxford, England, to Nigerian parents, David Oyelowo is graceful and majestic as he is fiery and pensive, playingthe lead role of Martin Luther King. Oyelowo said he felt a cosmic connection to the film way ahead of being cast in it. “Soon after my wife and I moved to this country, I was taught from above that I would play this role. On the 24th of July 2007. I couldn’t believe it, so I wrote it down — that’s how I know the date,” he said. “The director at the time didn’t agree with that higher power. And a process of my birth, my experiences, my faith, time and these incredible people led me to this moment.”

THE DREAM TEAM- DIRECTOR AVA AND HER LEAD MAN DAVID STRIKE A POSE AT THE SELMA AFTERPARTY AT ONE MAYFAIR.

It’s poignant to think, that if MLK hadn’t been assassinated in 1968, just three years after the Selma marches, he would have been 86 this year and looking at a very changed, yet unchanged world. Would he have been pleased with the progression or disheartened by the lack of it?

IT WAS HEART WARMING AND POIGNANT TO SEE BRITISH CIVIL RIGHTS CAMPAIGNER PAUL STEPHENSON POSE ALONGSIDE AVA AT THE SELMA AFTERPARTY.

It’s been a long time since we had significantly huge movies about black socio-politics like Steve Biko, Catch a fire, Rosewood and Boyz N the Hood. Yet In the past few years we’ve been bombarded with films about the stories of both black suppression and black accomplishment. Django Unchained, 12 Years a Slave, Mandela, The Help, The Butler, Get on the bus. What’s brought about the sudden onslaught?

THE LONDON COMMUNITY GOSPEL CHOIR PERFORM THEIR SET WHICH INCLUDED THE OSCAR-NOMINATED TRACK ‘GLORY’AT THE AFTER PARTY FOR SELMA’S UK PREMIERE.

All these films have happy, victorious endings, but that’s Hollywood and hardly reality. Films like this should’ve been made years ago and shown to us in school history lessons. I for one, would’ve had a very different take on the world. Today’s news shows us that we’re practically right back to that same civil rights era, with Police Brutality and murders of unarmed men going unprosecuted. We have come so far and yet still have so far to go.

WITH RADIO 1 / BBC ASIAN NETWORK BROADCASTER NIHAL AND PR LADY JODIE DALMEDA.

Hopefully when I’m an OAP, the films that are made about the BAME community worldwide, will be stories of adventure and narrative that’s not focused on oppression. Speaking of human upon human brutality, did I mention Nigeria?

Watch this film when it comes out on February 6. It has multiple Golden Globe and Oscar nominations. If you were in two minds about voting in the upcoming UK election, or (shock, horror!), have never voted, this will change your mind.

The Cirque Du Soleil troupe do an annual residency each January in London, and this month its all about their KOOZA show – which is a return to the origins of Cirque du Soleil, combining the two circus traditions of acrobatics and clowning in spectacular style. It tells the story of The Innocent; a melancholy loner in search of his place in the world, through contortionists, trapeze artists, the high wire and the breath-taking Romanesque gladiator soldiers on the ‘Wheel of Death’. Accompanied by a live band and singers, these are the facts you need to know.

1. IT’S A REAL CIRCUS, BUT MODERN.

A traditional circus is a company of performers that usually includes clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, hoops, tightrope walkers, jugglers, unicyclists and big stunts.

Cirque has all these but the vamped up, new world contemporary versions that are based solely on human skills. That means no animals. (Unless you count the giant man dressed as a dog). The jokes are a bit old and predictable but the talent makes up for those flat moments. I’d love them to tech it up a bit and have the flying trapeze artist wear a go-pro for the giant screen so that we could all experience her flight around the venue and feel nauseous.

2. THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL IS A GREAT VENUE FOR A CIRCUS, BUT CIRQUE IS NOT A GREAT PERFORMANCE FOR THE ROYAL ALBERT HALL.

Even though the circus genre has always been in the round, this performance at RAH seems to have catered for only seats front and centre. When the clowns attempt to mime their storylines, its tough to follow when sat behind them whilst unable to see their facial expressions. Also, all the formation dancers, audience interaction and dance patterns are choreographed for a proscenium arch stage, not in the round.
So yes, even though I was in a fancy grand tier box with all the trimmings of a waiter, food and champagne I still had a bad seat. #FirstWorldProblems

3. IF YOU’RE GOING TO SEE A CIRCUS SHOW, THIS IS THE ONE TO SEE.

Over 30 years old, Cirque Du Soleil s the largest theatrical producer in the world, with performers that hail from all across the globe. The shows employ approximately 4,000 people from over 40 countries and generates an estimated annual revenue exceeding £600million.

My very politically incorrect music industry rock and roll legend guest said ‘’you can tell they’re all from circus countries’’. After challenging him, telling him off and googling to check, he retorted ‘’see, I told you, India, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia’’.

The Cirque Du Soleil site takes around eight days to construct and three days to pack up. Anywhere from 50–75 large tractor-trailer containers are necessary to transport the vast amount of equipment. Five generators are used to provide electricity to the site. So it’s a very big pimping, bling bling standard of burlesque, cabaret, clowning and acrobatics, hence it has a big reputation as an International brand.

4. THE TEARS OF A CLOWN IS REAL THING, EVERYONE HATES ON THE CLOWNS.

You can’t have a circus without a clown, but ever since I can remember, clowns have had a rough ride. From having to load their faces up with tonnes of white paint and screw their hair up, to wearing shoes that don’t fit, and their job title being a phrase that we now use as an insult. A clown is meant to be a comic performer who uses slapstick and mime to generate laughter but alas at KOOZA the audience used their clowns entrance cue to visit the bathrooms.

In my lifetime clowns have mostly made toddlers cry, generated fear in adults, and in this show are reduced to keeping us distracted whilst the rest of the cast prepare the stage for the next set, for the performers that will make us gasp, point and clutch our hands to our faces. Whilst the opening act of trampolining clowns being flipped into the air sets the scene well, the continuous slapstick and gurning can get a bit tiresome. Clownphobia sucks.

Everyone used to love clowns; they made people laugh smile and mesmerised us, now they are the scourges of the circus word. In this ever fast paced society we want the big stunts and need to gasp with our hearts racing before we will confess to being entertained. Are you not entertained asked Maximus Decimus Meridius and Jay Z. No, not when the clowns are on we’re not.

5. THE SHOW IS BURSTING WITH FIT, LITHE BODIES THAT WILL MAKE YOU LUST AND FEEL BUSTED.

Turning up in London in January straight after Christmas whilst the rest of us have stuffed our faces and turned into Sherman Klump and Big Mama is just cruel and frankly, offensive.
The perfectly shaped, gymnastic bodies of the contortionist trio, in skin clutching lycra catsuits, have to be seen to be believed, as they bent and twisted themselves into all kinds of knots and human balancing pyramids. It made my ashtanga and bikram class poses look lame.

The strength of the elegant unicyclist, unperturbed by a young woman standing unaided on his head, is not something I see daily in my 9-5, so pretty damn impressive.

If you like parkour free running and BMX stunt ariel displays, then you’ll love the olde worlde originators. A quartet of high-wire performers skips, and then cycles, along wires of different heights with no safety net. We squinted our eyes to try and make out any fake trickery, but it was all for real. For real.

‎The Wheel of Death was without question the most impressive act of the show, and something I can guarantee most people will have never seen before. Two giant hamster wheels are held at the end of a turning bar. Two men walk, run, flip and more inside the separate wheels, and they make the whole device circle. Like human hamsters in giant wheels. Then they run on the outside, keeping their balance on a spinning wheel that is itself swung through space at break-neck speed. At one point they began SKIPPING on the top of the revolving wheel that’s spinning at and one guy stumbled and caught himself. I’m still cynical as to whether this was intentional to make the whole venue gasp simultaneously at the death defying risk. This set was like the James Bond opening sequence of free running from Casino Royale.

6. THE NEGATIVE.

The running order should have been spread better. Part one feels a lil bland and flat, but persevere as part two is worth it! In fact, part one is so different that part two could’ve been a totally different company onstage.

Only go if you have center seats, as much of the show depends on you being able to see the action from the front, and the side angle view misses crucial moments.

A month and a half is a long time for the same intensely physical how to be at the same venue. I went half way through the run and the cast and audience felt lethargic. Go with loads of family and friends and make a lot of noise, get involved. The cast can only give back energy that they feel from their audience and vica-versa.